This paper attempts to provide an overall analysis of the most recent, relevant and consolidated issues of sustainable transport with the aim of indicating a specific perspective in the automotive field for a defensible production of an acceptable product, which would be able to satisfy the modern aspirations of the industrialised society. A broad framing of the role of sustainability in transport systems as well its impact on the automotive industry are presented first, focusing in particular on the energy consumption of road vehicles; the impact of transportation on energy use and the weight of energy consumption on the operational costs of the different transport modes are dealt with, together with the evolution of this consumption. These elements are essential for a clearer understanding of where and how much energy efficiency and the related emerging technologies can have an impact on road transport, mainly in the automotive field; furthermore, they provide the grounds for some overall considerations on the energy demand for transport. The environmental impact is implicitly a consequence of choices in the use of energy. Technical and economic solutions for a transport system that complies with the energy supply ? i.e. automotive production and the expected availability of the main used sources ? and for its sustainability can thereafter be analysed: quantitative analyses, such as the well-to-wheel one, and the energy related to the actual occupancy of vehicles, are also taken into account; some main technological perspectives are thereafter proposed for automobiles, which the authors consider to be winning, from a strategic viewpoint, and which should be closely coupled to industrial choices in the most technologically advanced countries in the world.

» Author: Partha Pratim Ray

» Reference: Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 133

» Publication Date: 01/10/2016

» Source: ScienceDirect - GPP

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